I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write to thank you so much for organising so many people to plant last weekend. Having so many went a long way to making it such a successful day – helped by the weather too. I’m really delighted at the planting progress – we did a few more trees on Sunday, and DWT is finishing up the rest this week
HVCA Voluteers
A short notice plea for help with tree planting to Hope Valley Climate Action yielded a big group of 23 volunteers, who between them planted around 1,500 trees on the north-western slopes of Sir William Hill, Bretton, in brilliant sunshine last weekend. Expert guidance on how to “slot plant” a tree was provided by Matt Dixon of Legacy Habitat Management, who also brought along several of the volunteers and lots of kit – though we did have to move his demonstration tree as he planted it in the middle of the footpath!
The Project
The planting is part of a project managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and funded via the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, and represents phase 1 of a wider plan to adapt the land-use on an upland farm to improve biodiversity, carbon capture and flood mitigation. The phase 1 woodland creation and restoration project area is around 14 acres and has involved planting 3,000 native mixed upland oak woodland species (oak, downy birch, hazel, rowan, hawthorn, holly and juniper); 2 areas of rhododendron removal; underplanting in two old Scots pine plantations; and a trial area of natural regeneration achieved by livestock exclusion. Walkers might have noted that stock has also been excluded from 150 acres at the top of Eyam moor, leading to significant re-growth of bilberry, crowberry and cowberry, as well as the proliferation of other species like heath bedstraw.
A big thank you
The landowner would like to thank Carol Collins of HVCA for organising such a grand turnout; Matt Dixon for all his efforts; and all the volunteers who contributed their time and enthusiasm, making for such a successful and enjoyable day. More planting is planned for next winter, so do watch this space for opportunities to get involved in future. Meanwhile, the project area is crossed by the public footpath which leads from Bretton to Stoke Ford, so anyone can visit to see the results of our efforts and watch the trees as they grow.
